LEBRON James maintained he is fine after getting a blow to the back in the third quarter of Cleveland's loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night (Tuesday, Manila time).
"I'll be ready by Thursday [in Chicago]," James told ESPN in the locker room after the Cavs’ 103-74 loss to the Spurs. "I got elbowed in the neck and spine."
Notwithstanding the injury scare, James said he is not in favor of Cleveland coach Tryonn Lue’s suggestion of giving his stars off days in the team’s last nine regular season games.
"Coach is going to have his logic of things, but we need to play,'' said the Cavs superstar, whose team has lost two in a row and five of its last 10.
With his team down 24 points and 28 seconds left in the third period, James took the blow to his upper back area while standing underneath under the basket as Spurs forward David Lee grabbed a rebound. The contact caused James to afterwards lie on the court for five minutes and appeared to be in obvious pain.
With assistance from teammates, James immediately walked to the bench but later left for the locker room early in the fourth quarter, never to return.
Lee claimed he didn’t know he had hit James in the ensuing play and initially thought the Cavs forward suffered a twisted ankle.